DUBLIN — A former inmate at the Santa Rita county jail is suing Alameda County and the sheriff’s department for medical malpractice, saying that he was forced to take medications he was allergic to, and was denied emergency medical treatment by jail doctors until it became obvious he needed treatment.

Isaac Turner, an Elk Grove resident, alleges that for nearly two weeks last February he was forced to take drugs that caused a rash on his face.

A nurse noticed the rash, which had spread to his back, neck and head, and tried to send the inmate the jail infirmary, the lawsuit contended. A doctor refused to see him, and several hours later he could not get out of bed and began hyperventilating, the suit claims.

He was taken to the infirmary, where a nurse recommended he be sent to the hospital, but the doctor denied the request, the suit said. Two days later, when he woke up his eyes were swollen shut.

“My lips were so swollen they were blocking my nasal passage,” he wrote in his complaint to the jail staff. “My tongue and throat were swollen as well.”

He was rushed by ambulance to ValleyCare Medical Center. He was kept at the hospital until Feb. 22, the lawsuit said.

Doctors at the hospital told him he suffered an allergic reaction to medication, and was left with permanent scaring and discoloration on his face and neck.

The lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 in damages.

Turner was jailed at Santa Rita from Nov. 11, 2005, through July 12 of this year on DUI charges. Two days after his release, he was picked up by Sacramento Police for additional DUI charges.